Field
The present disclosure relates to a packaging article for the storage and/or transport of items and materials requiring high levels of cleanliness.
Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor and microelectronic devices, components, and sub-assemblies are well known examples of items requiring high levels of cleanliness during their manufacture. Semiconductor and microelectronic devices are generally manufactured in special facilities known as “cleanrooms.” Cleanrooms are carefully controlled environments in which special precautions are taken to limit airborne particles and contaminants. These precautions include, amongst other things, constantly filtering the cleanroom atmosphere, requiring workers to wear special garments while in the cleanroom, and limiting materials allowed into the cleanroom. For example, it is common cleanroom procedure not to allow items such as pencils, paper, chalk, cosmetics, or cardboard inside the cleanroom because these items shed particles or generate dust.
Cleanrooms are expensive to build and maintain, but the expense is necessary since it is well known that even small increases in particle and contaminant levels present during manufacturing may adversely affect process yield and device performance. As integrated circuit feature dimensions have decreased, cleanliness has become even more critical, so, accordingly, additional efforts have been made to improve cleanrooms. Improved air filtering, tighter controls on allowable materials, and better cleanroom garments for workers have all been pursued, and today cleanrooms with fewer than ten particles (of a size greater than a half micron) per cubic foot are common.
But increasingly, the process for manufacturing semiconductor devices involves multiple facilities, each of which might be separated by thousands of miles. A manufacturer may perform certain processing steps at a specialized plant located in North America, and then ship partially completed wafers to another plant in Europe or Asia for completion and final processing into individual microchips. Or the manufacturing process may require materials, equipment, and component parts to be shipped between clean facilities. Shipping intermediate components and materials from one manufacturing facility to another means components and materials must be removed from the protection of the carefully controlled cleanroom environment and may therefore face possible contamination unless suitably protected. Therefore, a need exists for a packaging solution for items and materials requiring high levels of cleanliness.